F1Outsider brought up a point about Massa and Williams. Even though the car looks very fast, it is still the pre-season. If Williams is able to turn it around and win, it will be akin to what happened with Button and Brawn in 2009.
It's clear that Renault-engined cars are struggling, but will they have their act together by mid-season? Or sooner? The following is a meaningless exercise, but I've listed the winners of the first three GPs in the seasons that Vettel ultimately won the championship. At the beginning of those seasons, did we think that Vettel was going to win it all?
2010:
Bahrain: Alonso
Australia: Button
China: Vettel
2011:
Australia: Vettel
Malaysia: Vettel
China: Hamilton
2012:
Australia: Button
Malaysia: Alonso
China: Rosberg
2013:
Australia: Kimi
Malaysia: Vettel
China: Alonso
given their likely slow start, wouldn't it be ironic if the double points final race ends up winning it for RBR??
ReplyDelete@augie: That's what the BBC podcast said. The 2x points was to prevent Vettel from winning, but it might actually work in his favor.
ReplyDeleteAlso, even if you don't win in the final race, it is critical that you and your car finish the race, because someone may surpass you.
@maxichamp yeah, i'm not totally wild about the last race double points thing. it feels a little gimicky and designed to negate RBR/Vettel. i thought maybe a concept where certain races with the most history are worth 1.5 or 2 points would be less random. think the grand slams in tennis. which races would you include in such a scheme?
ReplyDeletealso, i'm a sucker for f1 paraphernalia. redbullshop.us is having a 40% off sale last year's gear.
@augie: They should all just be worth 1.0x the points.
ReplyDelete